How fast do meteors travel and how deep is the deepest ocean? Try our kids’ quiz

1. Ella, 8, asks: how fast do meteors travel?

   1. Up to 71 kilometres an hour

   2. Up to 71 kilometres a minute

   3. Up to 7.1 kilometres a second

   4. Up to 71 kilometres a second

2. Cordelia, 4, asks: how many hearts does a caterpillar have?

   1. Zero

   2. Just one

   3. Three

   4. One for each segment

3. Tom, 8, asks: how deep is the deepest ocean?

   1. On average 4,280 metres deep

   2. On average 3,800 metres deep

   3. On average 2,430 metres deep

   4. On average 1,240 metres deep

4. Rory, 7, asks: do cats blink?

   1. No, cats don’t need to blink because their eyes are moisturised in other ways

   2. Yes, cats blink, but not as much as humans do

   3. Yes, but cats only blink when they’re very tired

   4. Yes, cats blink as often as humans do

5. Matilda, 8, asks: why is your face reflected upside down when you look into the front of a spoon?

   1. The spoon is concave so light gets reflected inwards

   2. Because of the type of metal that spoons are made out of

   3. The spoon is convex, so light is reflected outwards

   4. You’re holding the spoon the wrong way round!

Solutions

1:D - The fastest meteors can travel up to 71 kilometres a second!, 2:A - Caterpillars don’t have hearts like we do. Instead they have a cavity that runs along their body, and they use special muscles to pump haemolymph, a blood-like substance, around their bodies. , 3:A - The Pacific Ocean is the deepest ocean, with an average of 4,280 metres of depth. Its deepest point in the Mariana Trench is more than 10,000 metres deep!, 4:B - Cats don’t blink as often as humans do and when they do, a third eyelid under the top and bottom ones moves across the eye so that cats don’t have to close their eyes fully when they blink. , 5:A - The spoon acts like a concave mirror, meaning it curves inwards. When light hits it, it is reflected inwards instead of straight back out. All the reflected light comes together at a point called the focal point, between your face and the spoon. Rays from the top part of your face are reflected downward and rays from the bottom part of your face are reflected upwards, creating an upside down picture!

Scores

1. 5 and above.

2. 4 and above.

3. 3 and above.

4. 2 and above.

5. 0 and above.

6. 1 and above.

Molly Oldfield hosts Everything Under the Sun, a weekly podcast answering children’s questions, out now as a book.

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